Dog Food

"Dog Food" by Saxton Freymann
Arthur Levine Books
Pub. 2003

Have you seen these food-character picture books before? Eight to ten years ago, they seemed to flood the market. But hey, I'm talking about this book 7 years after it's publication. So, yes, the art sparked white hot for a period of time— but the unique artistic vision and the ideas behind it most certainly have staying power. (I hope they make more of these books).

"Dog Food" is full of fun food photography accompanied by witty sayings. Every time I pick it up,  I'm inspired by the amazingly emotive food art. The characters are just so unique and full of life. It's just a delight to see the gestural quality of a sleeping dog in a banana ("...let sleeping dogs lie"), or the natural feel of the weight-shifted stance of a potato-bodied dog ("doggy bag").

The photography is really sharp, too: the colors are saturated, and thankfully the lens doesn't leave out a single detail of the personality-enhancing skin textures, tones or growths on the produce.

A lot of humor and wit went into the creation of this book. Every time I pick it up, I enjoy it more and more.


I think Dog Food is currently out of print, but you can get a copy for a song from an Amazon reseller.


Some links to blog posts featuring Saxton Freymann's food art
> Link 1
> Link 2